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Bulawayo Bureau

Government has announced civil servants’ pay dates for this month, underlying its commitment to timeously fulfil its salary obligations to its workers and improve their conditions of service.

Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) chief executive officer Mr Sifiso Ndlovu said Government announced the dates at a National Joint Negotiating meeting last Friday.

According to the payment schedule, members of the Zimbabwe National Army and Air Force of Zimbabwe will be paid tomorrow. Those in the health sector will receive their salaries on September 23, while the police and the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services will be paid on September 27. The education sector will be paid on October 3. The rest of the civil servants will be paid on October 6 while pensioners will receive their payments on October 10 and grant aided institutions on October 13.

Mr Ndlovu expressed disappointment on the pay dates announced by the Government, saying the dates indicate that there was no hope of the Government workers being paid early by their employer.

“The pay dates for September were announced at the NJNC meeting held in Harare last Friday. We appreciate the Government’s efforts in making sure that civil servants get paid.
“The announcement of dates allows the civil servants to plan.

“However, we would have appreciated if the Government paid the civil servants their dues within the month they would have given service. These dates leave us wondering if the Government will be able to pay us in the coming months,” said Mr Ndlovu.

The Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Cde Prisca Mupfumira, last Friday reassured the Government workers that they were working on improving their conditions of service, but appealed to pensioners to be patient as the Government was putting in place mechanisms to ensure they were also paid on time.

The minister said the Government was behind in paying pensioners, but there was no deliberate policy to delay payments, adding that the Government would strive to ensure that the problem of delays in salary payments was addressed.